1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to bandages, more specifically, the present invention relates to bandages for temporarily securing sutures and the like.
2. Background Art
The invention generally relates to holders for a variety of implements and devices including but not limited to sutures and medical tubing, such as vacuum tubes, electrical cords, and the like, which are often employed in surgical operations.
Catheters and needles are commonly inserted into arteries or veins, as for example during cannulation and dialysis. Traditionally, such devices have been attached to patient's bodies as by means of several strips of adhesive tape, or by several bandages placed over the exposed extent of the needle or catheter. This technique is objectionable from the standpoints of remnant risk of inadvertent twisting or removal of the device as may occur as the patient changes position, and of time consumed in applying the several strips. No prior device embodies the unusually advantageous features of construction, mode of use and results now afforded by the present invention.
Throughout a hospital, various implements, sutures, tubing, cords, and materials of various types are used in health care operations, particularly during surgery. Often there is a need to be able to temporarily anchor such materials to a patient. After being deposited, the materials must be easily retrievable for further use during the particular operation and, in addition, there is a need to improve the ability of the physician or nurse involved in the operation to control and handle such materials both during an operation and throughout the recovery process. Thus, it is often advantageous that such materials be prevented from sliding about while in use. It is also advantageous to be able to control the amount of holding power and/or tension provided by the anchoring device.
For example, vacuum tubes, which are used to remove accumulating blood or other fluids during surgery, must be readily accessible throughout the operation and yet not be an obstruction. Nasal gastric tubes are inserted into the patient's nostril and are used to siphon fluids from the patient's stomach. There is a need to be able to anchor and adequately control the nasal gastric tubing that extends from the patient's nostrils. If a cautery is employed during an operation, there is a need to be able to anchor and manipulate the cautery cord which extends from the instrument. A further example of tubes which require manipulation or anchoring are the tubes which extend from intravenous bottles that are used to provide nourishment to the patient. Yet still another example may provide for fixation and tension adjustments as applied to slings and other tension-based treatments.
One known prior device has a square support pad with front and back faces. An adhesive is applied to the back surface so that the pad can be affixed to a substrate, such as a surgical drape. The front or upper surface of the pad is made of felt. One portion of the support pad is a rectangular strip which can be wound around a tube. The end of the strip or pad has a Velcro™ pad that is attached to the felt surface, thereby holding the tube in place. The pad may be wound around the tube so as to contact the tube with a portion of the adhesive side or only the felt side of the strip, thereby determining whether the tube is permitted to slide within the strip while being held. Another device is composed of a strip of felt having a roughened Velcro™ flap attached at one end of the strip. Tubing is placed between the felt strip and flap and is secured by pushing the flap down into the felt to effect the Velcro™ lock.
Such devices have several problems since the Velcro™ has a tendency to snag the gloves used by the nurses and surgeons. In addition, the second device has no ability to anchor tubing without permitting it to slide. Moreover, with the first device, in order to affix a tube without permitting slide, the operator must work with a sticky adhesive that can snare the operator's gloves and the like. Finally, these devices do not allow the operator to control the amount of holding power and/or tension to the held materials.
There is, therefore, a need for an effective device that will easily hold various medical implements, sutures, slings, tubing, and the like to prevent such materials from sliding while also allowing for a potential releasable connection providing for tension adjustments to the held material.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,430,300 to M. Doan discloses two embodiments of a fastener for medical tubes wherein the fasteners are fabricated from a unitary strip of adhesive material such as cloth. In one embodiment the strip of material is T-shaped whereby the top of the T is adapted to be folded down to engage the stem of the T for securing it in folded relationship with respect to a medical tube as illustrated in FIGS. 1-3 of said patent. The second embodiment utilizes an elongate strip, the end portion of which is adapted to be folded over a tube and thereafter threaded through a longitudinal slit 37 which is disposed centrally of the strip at a location below the tube for securing the upper portion of the strip to the tube as illustrated in FIGS. 4-7. In each of the embodiments one end portion of each strip is provided with an adhesive for securing the strip to a support at a location which is spaced from the location of the tube, whereby considerable relative movement is provided between the tube and the surface to which the fastener strip is secured.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,834,380 to S. A. Boyd discloses a holder for I.V. injection cannula and tubing in the form of an elongate longitudinally split clamping tube 20 which is either molded integrally with or adhesively secured transversely to the upper surface of a length of tape. The split clamping tube is adapted to receive a catheter tube or the like after which the clamping tube is closed onto the catheter tube by means of interlocking pads 23 and 24 of artificial burr material 23 and 24 or by means of strap fasteners. Pads 23 and 24 are secured to and carried by an adhesive strip the lower surface of which is adapted to be fastened to the body of a patient by means of adhesive on the lower surface of said strip.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,146,778 to H. A. Krawiec discloses a catheter support which comprises a catheter-holding element 1 and a separate supporting member 10 which latter member is adhesively secured to the skin of a patient. The catheter-holding element is releasably attached to the supporting material by means of a strap fastener for securing tubing in such a manner that considerable relative movement can occur between the tube and the skin of a patient.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,446 to P. M. Buttaravoli discloses a securement device for an I.V. catheter and its tubing which comprises a pair of top and bottom pads which are interconnected centrally of their lengths to provide a pair of hinged flaps in the upper pad which overlies the lower pad as illustrated in FIGS. 1-8. The lower pad is provided with elongate slits, notches, and openings for accommodating an infusion needle and medicant. One of the flaps is adapted to secure the coupling portion 50 of a needle whereas the other flap is adapted to anchor a length of tubing which is connected to the coupling portion of a needle to the lower panel. In FIGS. 9-12, a modification is disclosed wherein a single piece of material is provided with an elongate hinge 66 which subdivides the piece into upper and lower portions, said portions being integrally hinged at 60 along mating edges 68 and 70. The lower portion 78 is provided with a notch 81 and openings 82 at opposite ends of through slits 76, as in the lower pad of FIGS. 1-8. The upper portion is adapted to be folded over the lower portion for securing the coupling portion of an infusion needle and I.V. tubing 50, between the pads, by means of an adhesive.
Other devices in the art include the Statlock® Foley Stabilization Device marketed by Bard Medical Division. The tape-free stabilization with a Statlock™ device may provide a lock tight design to prevent pistoning and accidental dislodgement, a swivel design to allow for catheter movement, and a releasable design to allow for easy cleaning of a patient.
Other prior art holders for securement devices known to applicant are embodied in U.S. Pat. No. 2,449,882 to A. J. Daniels; U.S. Pat. No. 3,138,158 to D. W. Gordon et al; U.S. Pat. No. 3,046,984 to F. O. Eby; U.S. Pat. No. 3,286,713 to L. D. Kurtz et al; U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,911 to J. B. McCormick; U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,456 to R. Waxman; U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,280 to A. L. Lacount; U.S. Pat. No. 3,630,195 to L. S. Santomieri; U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,663 to R. P. Johnson; U.S. Pat. No. 3,367,332 to J. N. Groves; U.S. Pat. No. 3,542,321 to R. D. Kahabka; U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,378 to S. J. Page; U.S. Pat. No. 2,814,294 to F. H. J. Figge; U.S. Pat. No. 2,159,947 to I. Gansel; U.S. Pat. No. 2,669,231 to B. Fisher; U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,250 to M. T. Thomas; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,670,727 to D. L. Reiterman.
From these few examples it can be appreciated that anchors, more specifically surgical anchors, are typically time-consuming, difficult to use, hard to place, often unreliable as an effective holding system, difficult to adjust, and impossible to relocate.